I sure don,t consider myself as being either an exceptional shot or a rifle snob, ,
I value, over all quality of machine work, fit & finish, durability, consistency and accuracy and dependability as the more important factors when selecting a rifle.
Yes its true Id prefer to use a rifle that might provide some advantage in range, power or accuracy and don,t mind spending a bit more to get what I want,
rather than just shop based mostly on price, and having a rather extensive engineering back ground, I appreciate skillful machine work more than some people do.
I was recently invited to go on a deer & hog hunt here in Florida, at a guys ranch in mid Florida south of Orlando, mid state, and when I got to camp I opened my rifle case and pulled out a ruger #1,
with a custom 28" barrel I had SHILLEN install decades ago in caliber 257 weatherby mag. with a baush & lomb 4x-12x scope, the rifle and scope are both well over 35 years old
I was repeatedly asked why anyone in his right mind would spend over $1200 on a rifle and then have over $400 more in custom barrel work done to a single shot rifle???
from the comments you heard,from all the younger crowd you would think it was a pre-civil war musket ,and I don,t think anyone considered a single shot rifle a good choice.
and because it weights about 11 lbs with its 27 inch tall, harris bi-pod, I had several people comment rather negatively on its weight and length and obviously its lack of fast repeat fire potential,
now this is not my rifle below but its a rather similar picture I found posted on line.
I also took some verbal kidding about the climbing tree stand I brought with me
(no thats not me but its a TREE LOUNGE tree stand and yeah Im an old geezer too!)
anyway after all the younger guys got through telling me that we would be driving around on those 4 wheel motor cycles,
and I should have brought a pump 12 ga, as shots were mostly at running deer and hogs at under 40 yards and I was hopelessly old and ill equipped,
I let them get on with their plans . the ranch owner was a lady about my age (70 plus) who enjoys having the grand kids hunt the property
(I got the feeling its the only reason they visit her now that he husband had recently passed on,)
well about 4 pm after watching and hearing the guys randomly drive all over the ranch for hours one guy stops to chat as they had seen nothing all day,
Id seen several does and a dozen hogs but not a thing worth shooting as we talked,
I mentioned the fact that the guys were spending all day driving around and no one seemed interested in actually hunting.
the guy I was talking too asked me if I could see any game, when I answered Id seen about a dozen hogs trot by in a clearing, when he asked where I pointed it out
(remember Im 30 feet up in a tall strait jack pine and can see far better than he can at ground level ) he doubting me, asked for directions to where I saw the hogs
(obviously to see if there were tracks to verify my sighting) as I described the area in plain sight he said that clearing was easily about a 1/4 mile away..... (my range finder said 340 yards)
I watched him drive over to the clearing , look around and then he placed an empty beer bottle on a fallen tree , he drives back and says I suppose you saw me place that beer bottle do you think you could hit it?
well it was almost dark, and not much else going on, so for grins & giggles .. why not, I put the cross hairs on the bottle , with the extended bi-pod feet on the stands foot rest , judged the breeze as inconsequential, and slowly squeezed off the shot.. yeah I hit the bottle and absolutely vaporized it with a 120 grain bullet
https://www.speer-ammo.com/products/...le-bullet/1410
(not exactly a huge challenge.. Hitting a bottle from a solid rest from mid 340 yard range ) but it seemed to amaze this guy and I got a whole lot of verbal brownie points that evening in camp, after he drove out to what he swore was a 1/4 mile out and found a vaporized bottle.
we may not have seen anything worth shooting this weekend but I got a couple younger guys thinking about rifle options
(btw the rifles sighted in the way I sight all my big game rifles in, 3.5" high at 100 yards and I aimed so the horizontal cross hair was about 1" over the standing bottle)
since I was up in a tree stand I probably hit the neck of the bottle)
BTW once you hit 66 years old in florida a resident with a florida drivers licence no longer needs to purchase a hunting licence!
http://myfwc.com/license/recreationa...eed-a-license/